Sandpoint mayor, council at odds over land deal

SANDPOINT – The mayor of Sandpoint says three City Council members who voted against an agreement that gave the city free land did so to stop a highway bypass project.

“There’s anti-byway sentiment,” Ray Miller told the Bonner County Daily Bee. “They’re doing anything they can to possibly throw a wrench into the works.”

The deal the council rejected on Wednesday involved the city receiving 3 acres at the former Lakeside Inn property at no charge from the state in exchange for the city maintaining a bike path and park that would be built along the proposed Sand Creek Byway. The Sand Creek Byway would route U.S. 95 traffic away from the downtown core of Sandpoint.

Council members Helen Newton, Sandra Lamson and Steve Lockwood voted against the agreement.

Lockwood said he voted against the agreement, in part, because negotiations on the deal were done in secret.

“Council has been out of the loop in the process,” Lockwood said. “It seems to me we should all be working together, whether we agree on individual issues or not. It’s been pretty much the mayor and (the Idaho Transportation Department).”

He also said council members did not want to approve something they “clearly did not understand.”

Miller said the agreement with the Transportation Department is needed before a permit to build the byway can be issued.

Barbara Babic, a spokeswoman for the department, said the agency is checking with its legal counsel about how the council vote could affect the project.

Miller on Thursday said he’s trying to arrange a meeting with the council and the Transportation Department.

“We need to find out what the roadblocks are and see if we can get around it,” Miller said.